the silver van

May 8th, 2008, our silver Chrysler Town and Country went down in history. As Terry says, "It was in an accident," as if the van collided with the back of a right turning semi truck of it's own accord. The van must have forgotten that, yes, semi's make wide right turns. The van probably didn't see the right turn signal and thought the semi was turning left and so proceeded to go around the RIGHT turning semi.

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It was, of course, my fault. Completely and totally my fault. A stupid mistake. I was just glad that Terry was only concerned about me and the kids (b/c, yes, the kids were in the van - Evie slept and Noah only said, "Big truck!"). How nice of my husband not to freak out like I expect people to do when I make a mistake.
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Here is the van the day I hit the semi. It caught me by the driver's mirror and pulled me in.

The bumper falling off.

Terry thought about selling the van to a junk yard but the money was too little. So he wanted to fix the van. The problem was that he had no tools, expertise or know-how. He needed someone who did this kind of thing out of his garage and would help him.

Enter his lifting partner, Kevin. Kevin knew just such a guy: Kip Larson. Kip details cars out of his sweet garage. Kip had the tools, the expertise and the know-how. So, Kip has helped Terry along.

Terry bought cheap parts (a bumper, fender and door) from a Dodge Caravan at a junk yard and they fit the Town and Country. The two of them sanded the green paint off the fender and door, filled in the rough areas, painted, clear coated and polished. Actually, they polished the entire van so it's ALL shiny. And now it's ready to be sold. And baby, do we need it sold. God had provided a gold van 2 days after I crashed the silver one for half the price we paid for the silver one which was already very cheap. God will provide a buyer to take care of us too!

This is the original bumper. Terry puts lotza screws and such in it to hold it up (b/c they got pulled out in the crash and that's why it was hanging down) and rivets to piece together the crunched parts. His plan was to get a car bra to cover these up.

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There's the sweet car bra. I think it looks great.

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You would never know that van was in an accident from looking at it now! Great job Terry!